There are a variety of techniques and products available for the collection of gas and vapor samples. In particular, gas samples containing organic constituents such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are collected from a location such as a contaminated field site or an industrial waste stream. The analytical equipment needed to analyze the organic constituents within the sample typically requires the commercial transport of a sealed collection container to a laboratory.
There are a variety of collection techniques and products known for carrying out such sampling. For instance, it is known to use absorbent traps, inert bags such as Tedlar® bags, and vacuum canisters such as a Summa® canister to collect and transport gas and vapor samples. It is also known in the art to use sealed glass vials having an elastomeric septum defined within the vial closure. Syringes can be used to pierce the septum and introduce a gaseous sample into the interior of the vial upon which the needle is carefully removed to avoid tearing of the septum.
While the above techniques are useful, the apparatuses and/or protocols used to collect samples can be expensive and require numerous manual steps which are time consuming. To the extent the insertion of needles within a septum is used to insert a sample into a vial, there is always a risk of damage to the septum which may compromise the integrity of the sample. In addition, techniques which rely upon larger apparatuses such as the Summa® type canisters are costly to transport and process.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement and variation within the art.